Lineage‑Integrity Matrix#
The lineage‑integrity matrix is a promptable checklist for testing whether a concept, model, or operator has a traceable, honest, and non‑laundered ancestry inside and across frameworks.
| Axis | Question / Prompt | Expected Evidence | Integrity Risk If Weak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin traceability | Can we name the earliest canonical source(s) for this concept or operator? | Citations, dates, authors, module paths | Ancestry blur, “came from nowhere” narratives |
| Cross‑canon mapping | Is this concept mapped to at least one external canon or prior art? | Cross‑canon matrix entries, external references | Local reinvention, novelty inflation |
| Inheritance rules | Are the inheritance rules (what was kept, changed, dropped) explicitly stated? | Change logs, deltas, rationale notes | Silent mutation, regime drift |
| Drift accounting | Is drift (semantic, operational, ethical) tracked across versions and forks? | Version history, drift tags, deprecation notes | Unacknowledged drift, misaligned reuse |
| Operator genealogy | Are operators linked to parent operators or patterns in other modules? | Genealogy diagrams, operator trees | Orphan operators, opaque behavior |
| Regime context | Is the regime (domain, constraints, stakes) of origin clearly documented? | Domain tags, risk level, deployment context | Context loss, mis‑deployment in new regimes |
| Attribution & credit | Are all major ancestors credited (people, labs, communities, frameworks)? | Attribution section, contributor list | Credit laundering, exploitative reuse |
| Licensing & obligations | Are licensing terms and obligations attached to the lineage, not just the artifact? | License tags, obligations checklist | Rights laundering, compliance gaps |
| Defensive publication | Is there a defensive publication or prior‑art record for key claims? | DOI, timestamped repo, public archive link | Patent risk, enclosure of shared knowledge |
| AI‑parsable structure | Is the lineage represented in a machine‑readable format (JSON, YAML, graph)? | JSON/YAML lineage file, graph schema | Non‑scannable ancestry, weak automated checks |
Usage#
- For each new artifact (model, operator, pattern, module), walk the matrix row by row.
- Mark each axis as:
strong,partial, orweak. - Any axis marked
weakshould trigger:- a lineage repair task (add citations, cross‑canon mapping, genealogy), or
- a deployment constraint (do not deploy in high‑stakes regimes until repaired).